WoW Radio
Overview Official Website for WoW Radio World of Warcraft Radio, or simply WoW Radio, is an independent group of players that have come together to produce and promote live radio shoutcasts that air throughout the week. The shows are about 90% talk and 10% music, with most of the music being on the show "Downtime Downunder" during the US server weekly maintenence. Their existence and exhibitions are acknowledged and approved by Blizzard, and have been featured on the Official Website more than six times, that being the official website of the WoW Community. WoW Radio was even let in to BlizzCon and sent out the only live video feed covering everything on the show floor. They began as one show, Saturday Nights with Athalus, on October 11th of 2004. Now, over a year later, they have one show every night of the week. Athalus left the station on the 18 March 2006 after his final goodbye show. The station is now owned by TotalBiscuit who also hosted WoW Radio's flagship shows, EPIC and Blue Plz! which took over Athalus' spot on Saturday nights. He will be hosting the forthcoming show Titan, with cohost Eriyanna. Issues of negativity and past controversy It has been highlighted on a number of occasions that WCRadio can be highly negative and critical regarding the World of Warcraft computer game. This in-itself is not neccessarily a flaw and helps the station to achieve an independent style in their content, coming across more as fans of the game, rather than a corporate message medium. It has been known however for certain shows (in particular Blue Plz and Epic, both hosted by TotalBiscuit, with EPIC now off the air and Blue Plz! preparing for a comeback) to have a particularly negative tone in places, both about general gameplay, and Blizzard in particular. It should be noted that many value this particular point of view since there are few fansites willing to openly criticise Blizzard and it's policies out of fear of alienating them. WoW Radio has long survived without the aid of Blizzard entertainment and it can only be presumed therefore, has no such qualms. Some would argue that because of this independent stance, WoW Radio is currently the most valuable source for WoW-related media and information online. WoW Radio has had altercations with Blizzard entertainment in the past, not least after an expose of their treatment at Blizzcon in 2005. Hosts pointed out specifically the number of roadblocks that had been thrown in the way of their efforts to broadcast the event, despite being invited to do so, and the uneven treatment that they had received in comparison to other organisations attending the event. More recently, WoW Radio came under fire from Blizzard EU for the efforts of Project Golddigger and the Chronicles of the Goldfarmer movies in which TotalBiscuit was banned from the European forums and retaliated with a viral signature campaign to promote the movies, which spread like wildfire throughout the EU forum community. A large number of WoW Radio fans and staff were banned during this incident. There are varying opinions on the incident. It can be argued that the bans were justified as players were acting in defiance of the community manager's authority. Others point to the opinion that most of these players did not in fact breach the Codes of Conduct of Blizzard Europe's forum community, some going as far as to say that TotalBiscuit himself did not fall afoul of these regulations and that the ban was nothing more than an effort to silence a voice of dissent within the community who was rapidly gaining a following. What is clear however is that WoW Radio benefitted significantly from the publicity of this event, some going as far as to call it a carefully orchestrated publicity stunt by station owner TotalBiscuit. As a result however, WoW Radio can no longer promote on the European forums, with those attempting to do so receiving bans without prior warning or justification. While it is clear that no-one is in possession of the full facts surrounding this debacle, some suggest that there is far more to this incident that meets the eye and go as far as to suggest that someone within Blizzard Europe is holding a grudge. This problem was only made worse when the EU Forums were spammed with multiple topics per forum advertising the site, against the wishes of WoW Radio themselves who were running a controlled, voluntary realm forum promotional campaign. Whatever Blizzard EU's issues with WoW Radio, no doubt compounded by the person who spammed the forums, resulted in many more 7 day suspensions. Listeners should be advised that the station will express the full and frank views of the show hosts and does not censor their opinions on any point. Please listen with an open mind and bear in mind that you may not neccessarily agree with what you're hearing. WoW Radio 24/7 WoW Radio announced that it would be going '24/7'. In preparation for the project, the station upgraded it's streaming facilities significantly, recently upgrading it's quality to 128kb/s Stereo, at 48khz bitrate, whereas previously it broadcast in 56kb/s 44khz Mono format. WoW Radio's 24/7 project is known to involve scheduled reruns of archived shows, including their music breaks and broadcast in their original quality (rather than the archive quality, which is 56kb/s mono). It is also known that it intends to include several DJ sets, the testbed for which is Eriyanna's 'The Grind', which consists of several hours of grinding music including live trance mixes. A launch date for this service has yet to be announced but is expected shortly as of 5th Febuary 2007.. WoW Radio Shows Saturday - User Interface with Alris and Menuet Join Alris and Menuet as they explore the World of Warcraft with...you. User Interface is the show for the community at large. Our topics change week to week so your voice and opinion can be heard. Add to that some weekly segments that are totally interactive and you have the User Interface for the community. Saturday - MaxSpeed with Speedy40 and Maxmaps A show that goes as extremely fast in nowhere in particular! Speedyf40 and Maxmaps cover a variety of topics ranging from World of Warcraft, to technology, Gaming and whatever else gets in the way. Sit Down, Strap in and get ready because MAXSPEED is full throttle radio! Features include 'The Spanish Inquisition', where the hosts ask a question of their audience and gather and air the information and 'The Jumping Rants' in which the hosts attempt as many logical tangents as humanly possible and ask the listeners to try and keep track of just how many jumps they make. Sunday - Blue Plz! with TotalBiscuit Blue Plz! was widely considered to be a watershed for WoW Radio when it was first aired, offering a slick and powerful presentation style with regular features and a huge listenerbase. Blue Plz! went off the air under unfortunate circumstances and returned in a different format as EPIC with TotalBiscuit and Kikijiki. As of the 5th of Febuary 2007, TotalBiscuit announced that Blue Plz! would be returning to the air in it's original format, sporting improved sound-quality and focus in a 1 and a half hour maelstrom of radio that only the legendary TotalBiscuit could possibly produce. Prepare yourself for the return of an old favourite. Sunday - Octale and Hordak vs The World with Octale and Hordak Octale and Hordak vs The World, these two will talk about everything! From broken classes to game development, they are going to take them on with their own editorial twist. Octale and Hordak vs the World brings you a very different look at the World of Warcraft with a healthy mix of general gaming discussion ranging from tabletop to TCG. Noted for it's high production quality and professional presentation style. Sunday - The Weekend Report with Leto and Turpster The Weekend Report is the return of Leto from the lack of being able to screw around on air each week. Now that he has the ability to steal the stream once more, he plans to not only talk in the third person through this entire show description, but also use that hour each week to inform, reform, conform, and deform his listeners into a pile of goo. In other words, it's like all the other news shows out there. Listen in on Sundays and hopefully you won't come out of it with a brain! Recently Leto acquired his cohost, Turpster and the show now focusses on topical discussion and several listener submitted columns including 'Aimed Shot' and 'The Ranting Swede'. Making a less welcome debut on the air is Turpster's questionable singing voice, with song parodies as amusing as they are cringeworthy. Monday - The Lorekeepers hosted by Kae and Strixus Continuing on the coat tails of the Ancient of Lore, Kae and Strixus bring you a weekly lesson in the history of Azeroth, ranging from the every day to the strange and weird. The show also includes weekly news updates for the community, and a weekly lore Q&A on that week's topic. The Lorekeepers is now hosting the community-based segment, "Blue shirt Mondays," where listeners wear blue shirts on their World of Warcraft avatars, and can send in pictures with a question of their choice to be answered on-air the following week. The Lorekeepers is also home of an on and off again short called The LoreBusters, hosted by Aimscope Zenithsprog and Particulate Entropic. Regular guests include Skyburster, gnome of many deaths, and Deathwing, currently in hiding from the rest of the dragon flights in the LoreBusters studio. Tuesday - Downtime Downunder hosted by Various Downtime got you down? Fear not, help is on the way as the WoW Radio team put on a marathon session of musical entertainment. Get interactive as the community gathers to request songs and socialise while the game servers are down for maintenance. With Madal the powerful Aussie-Man leading the charge, you are sure not to be disappointed. Taking up the reigns next is the one we all love, Leto, serving up some of the classics and most happening music. Prepare yourself for the might of "Ironforged" later on in the afternoon as TotalBiscuit brings you only the finest in truly epic metal. And the show rounds off the Downtime Downunder as your servers slowly come back online. Wednesday - On the Cards hosted by TotalBiscuit and Duncor WoW Radio brings you a first for the internet, live play-by-play WoW TCG with strategy discussion. Listeners are able to email in to compete in future shows. The show is known to use the OCTGN online play client to facilitate it's games. Thursday - Short Stuff hosted by Various The Short Stuff project aims to bring many short-run shows on specific topics to a wide audience, turning WoW Radio into an online knowledge base. Such shows so far are listed in the section below and Thursday is the preferred time for these shows to air. Listeners are pointed to the archives for mp3 downloads of every available Short Stuff informational show. Friday - Vendor Trash hosted by Slanik Join us every friday for Vendor Trash. The show where we take our crazy Irishman, Slanik, and give him a microphone. Listen to topics be derailed, new ones being created and strange conclusions being reached all in the first 30 seconds! Definatly the most laid back, relaxed, and fun show on WoW Radio. Friday - WoW Things Considered with Cadwallion. Nobunaga, Duncor and Moozh Farm Status was a show dedicated to the endgame of WoW. After reaching what it's hosts felt was it's limit in the sense of content, the focus shifted to something a little broader and WoW Things Considered was born. Cadwallion and crew move things forward making Farmstatus part of their new show and adding all sorts of new awesome stuff. Short Stuff Short Stuff is an initiative meant to create a podcastable knowledge base within WoW Radio, with short-run shows of limited length and number, on very specific topics such as classes and trade-skills. Such is the way of 'Short Stuff', shows often run for 3-4 episodes before going off the air. These shows can be downloaded through the archives after they have been aired, for easy reference by players. Ka-ching with Maxmaps :Ka-ching a guide to moneymaking by Maxmaps. Inner Focus with Eriyanna :A priest centric show. Shadow Step with Alris and Duncor :A show about rogues. The Dungeonmaster with TotalBiscuit :A show centered around raiding and strategies Past Shows EPIC - TotalBiscuit and KikiJiki EPIC was the natural evolution of Blue Plz!. Totalbiscuit returned with a cohost, revamped features and greater focus. With Ask the Murloc turning into a long-running improvised radio-play, Nubcake News gaining scope and higher production values and the addition of World of Theorycraft which ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, the show enjoyed wider listenership than Blue Plz! EPIC went off the air when Kikijiki resigned from the show-team due to real-life commitments. The show spearheaded the 'Project Golddigger' initiative, aimed at raising awareness of goldfarming within the game and methods of which to disrupt it. Blue Plz! - Totalbiscuit 'Blue Plz!' first went on air in June of 2005. It orginally had three features. These were 'Rappin the forums', 'Nubcake news' and probably the most memorable 'Ask the Murloc'. Other features that were later introduced included 'Bug watch' which was later taken out and 'Working as Intended'. The popularity of Blue Plz! grew and grew until at one point the Christmas Edition of Blue Plz! got 10000 downloads. Soon after, Totalbiscuit ran out of content and invited listeners to give him topics whilst on air to talk about and called it 'Open Plz!'. After an incident in the IRC channel concerning a new feature 'Learn to Play', the show got pulled from the air. Later Totalbiscuit returned to the air with Kikjiki in the sequal to Blue Plz!, EPIC. Violent Noise/Playtime - Moiren Violent Noise, named after the WoW Radio guild Violent Noise, was a role-playing show hosted by Moiren in the Wednesday US time-slot. Every-week Moiren would name a topic like the family heritage of your character, and ask listeners to write into Moiren and tell her, after which she would read your reply on air. It helped to give your character more depth, and more ideas about how to develop him/her. Later she re-named the show Playtime and it moved to the EU Wednesday's time slot. Shortly after it was pulled from the air because of technical difficulties on Moiren's end. After a hiatus, it was announced that the show was being pertinently ended, and Moiren was leaving staff due to personal issues. Ancient of Lore - Leto, Strixus and Kae Ancient of Lore was the first WoW radio show geared towards the Lore of Warcraft. He started out hosting the show by himself. Two features came and passed. The short lived 'Old Uncle Mac' and 'Ancient of Trash' with Vendor Trash host Slanik, which, after introduced, carried on for most of the duration of Ancient of Lore. Later on, two other hosts came onto the scene, Strixus and Kae. Towards the later part of the life of Ancient of Lore, Blizzard announced the new alliance race for the expansion to be Draenei. Leto was against the whole concept lore-wise and lost respect for blizzard and felt because of this he could not continue his show. He gave it to Stixus and Kae, and is now known as the Lorekeepers. Leto went onto host the Weekend report with Leto. Shadow Council - Duncor Shadow Council was a panel discussion show where the host Duncor and 2-3 guests would discuss the many of the aspects of the game and issues the community were talking about. Shadow Council was a based of WoW Radio’s short lived show The Round Table which only had two episodes. Shadow Council’s only features were “Duncor’s Opinion” and a weekly two minute radio play called “Widget’s Lab”. The show had 20 episodes before Duncor toke it off air saying that he was running out of steam and didn’t want the show to suffer. Duncor had said he would bring the show back in some form but there has been no news of his next show as of yet. He is currently a co-host of WoW Things Considered. IRC WoW Radio has its own IRC server where fans can speak about the show, send messages to the hosts and generally hang out. Some shows rely on IRC such as Vendor Trash which is a community based show and the host, Slanik, invites the users to send him their opinions which he reads out. The IRC channel can be accessed by anyone. This can be done by clicking on the IRC/Chat link on the website, and then following the instructions. Similarly you can join the server wow.wowirc.com and type /join #WoWRadio and let the fun begin. Upon arrival you will be greeted by regular members who you will see around most of the time. Some familiar faces you will come to see include: MacHarborGuy, MrCynical, Glenncuttlefish, Jintu, Mairnai And Cohac. Forthcoming shows WoW Radio as of 5th Febuary 2007 has two forthcoming shows. Titan Titan is considered the spiritual sequel to EPIC, to be hosted by TotalBiscuit, Station Owner and Eriyanna, Community manager of Myndflame entertainment and the station's Head of Development. Very little is known about the format of this show and a recent announcement indicates that it has been delayed indefinately due to real-life issues outside the control of the hosts. PvP Show A number of demos were submitted for a planned PvP show and the host has been picked but has not yet been announced. Website Address Official Website for Warcraft Radio Category:Community Category:Fan Sites Category:Podcasts